After early struggles, Shallowater girls roll into playoffs

It's been anything but a typical season for the Shallowater girls basketball team, which saw a streak of 11 straight district championships broken after a sluggish start to the District 3-2A race.

But as the 2008 playoffs get underway, no team might be playing better basketball right now than the Fillies (23-7), who always seem to know what to do when the postseason rolls around.

"We're disappointed that we're not district champions, but we really thought we did all we could do, and there's nothing we can do about that now," veteran Fillies head coach Chuck Darden said. "It's that second season now, and everybody is 0-0 again. It doesn't matter the place, we just have to go out there and win games. They're disappointed, but they also know our team toward the last half of district was playing some really good basketball."

There's no denying how hot Shallowater is going into the playoffs, having won six straight district games after starting off the slate 2-2. Included in the surge is a win over district champion Abernathy and a key home win over Littlefield that seemed to key everything.

"Once we had those two (losses in district) we knew right then and there we had to step up our game and go in full force," senior forward Krystyn Perryman said. "We had our down point but we've been on an incline ever since."

The down point started right around the Caprock tournament. Shallowater lost on the second day of the tournament to state-ranked Ballinger, but then fell later that night to district foe Abernathy.

Then came road losses to Lockney and Abernathy within the first four games of district play, and suddenly doubt and a lack of confidence were creeping in.

"More than anything else the kids were playing really tight," Darden said. "The kids let the pressure get to them a little bit. Once you've lost your confidence, it's tough to build it back. We had to go through some struggles but I've never coached a team that didn't have to do that. We talked about that, and it was this team's burden to bear for a few weeks. But they kept fighting and pulled it together."

After starting 2-2, the Fillies beat Floydada, then followed it up with key home wins against Littlefield and Lockney. Darden said the Littlefield win is likely the catalyst for how the team is playing now.

"When we played Littlefield the second time around it was a big game and the kids had a great game here," Darden said. "You could see they started to loosen up and play, and I thought that was the big win because since then they've been playing really great basketball. I'm so proud of them because they've gotten on a tremendous roll and are playing their best basketball, and it's really good to say that going into the playoffs."

Shallowater is also getting leadership from its veterans. Jordan Scaff leads the team in scoring at 11.9 points per game, followed by Haley Burton at 11.1 and Perryman at 10.2. Scaff and Perryman also each average more than five rebounds per night. All three helped lead the Fillies to the regional tournament last season.

"We can go into games confident knowing there's nothing in a playoff game that we've not seen during the year," Darden said. "I just want the kids to have a great time and enjoy the moment because that's what it's all about."

Boys finales

Today marks the regular-season finales for several boys teams as the playoffs for them will begin next week, but several spots and seeds are yet to be decided.

Coronado can claim a share of the District 2-5A title and the No. 1 seed with a win at Tascosa. The Mustangs (21-8, 5-2)) already have one win over the Rebels (19-8, 6-1) and would hold the tiebreaker with another. Coronado can finish no worse than second. Also in 2-5A, Lubbock High (13-14, 3-4) needs a win over Amarillo (5-21, 0-7) to pull into a tie for third with Monterey (18-12, 4-4). Both the Westerners and Plainsmen have qualified for the playoffs.

In 4-4A, Estacado has the title secure and can finish unblemished in league play with a win over Lake View. Frenship and Plainview clash at The Dog Pound with the winner claiming second and the loser taking third in the playoff picture.

Brownfield has captured the 4-3A championship, and Levelland has clinched a playoff berth. Cooper needs to beat the Lobos today to take third and not have to worry about a tiebreaker with Seminole.